SPEAKING AFTER sentence yesterday, the girl’s mother paid tribute to Mary Crilly of the Cork Sexual Violence Centre and Sgt Ciara Lee for the support they had given them after her daughter made a complaint against Chen.
She said she was satisfied with the six-year jail term, and urged parents to be vigilant about their children in their teenage years. They should not assume mood swings were due to hormonal changes but talk to their children about any issues they might have, she said.
“I was terrified that he [the judge] was going to suspend it down to about two years. I was happy it was six. He’s on the sex offenders register, which is a major bonus point . . . He destroyed my daughter’s life.
“I hope that for every day he spends in prison, that he relives what he did to her. He didn’t even stand up in court and apologise, his wife apologised for him – he pleaded guilty and he couldn’t stand up inside the court and say ‘I’m sorry’.
“She was 14 years old, she will never get back those years. She was brilliant in first year in school, she should have gone to university; he took all that from her, he also took her virginity. I hope he rots in there.”
Mary Crilly welcomed the sentence, saying she believed it reflected the seriousness of the offences and that the girl had been subjected to prolonged abuse on a weekly or fortnightly basis for almost three years.
“I think the fact that this case has come to court will give people the courage to keep coming, because people need to keep coming to court in order to change and stop the abuse that’s going on and get convictions, so this was a good result for everyone.”